Alex Ferguson puts Wayne Rooney on the spot

I think that Wayne has to accept he has to have a better strike-rate with his penalties

Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson

Rooney has had a mixed record with penalties in the last 12 months and missed one during last weekend’s 2-1 win over Arsenal at Old Trafford.

He showed his bottle to step up and convert one in midweek though, as United produced a Champions League fightback to secure a 3-1 win in Braga and book a place in the knockout stages.

But assistant manager Mike Phelan admitted afterwards that United’s coaching staff were surprised when Rooney decided to take it.

Now Fergie has admitted the England hitman must improve his conversion rate – or else.

With Robin van Persie waiting in the wings, Fergie insists Rooney is just one miss away from being replaced as penalty taker.

The United boss, whose side travel to Aston Villa today, said: “I think that Wayne has to accept he has to have a better strike-rate with his penalties.

“Even though he slipped, his penalty the other night was well struck and it hit the target and that is important.

“If you hit the target, you are relying on the keeper to make a great save.

“If he does, full marks to him, but you have to give yourself the chance of making sure he has to make a great save.

He has to accept he has to ­produce better, but then he is capable. The one thing about Rooney is that it wouldn’t matter if it was a World Cup final or a League Cup first round game against an amateur team, he would still want to score.

“I think our best penalty taker is probably Ryan Giggs. I can only remember him missing one.

“But Ryan doesn’t play every week, so I would have to bring him on like in those American Football games!

“There’s no chance (of Rooney ever saying he doesn’t want to take one). But he will not want to miss another one.”

Fergie, who will be without Nani for up to two weeks with a hamstring problem, has challenged United to smash the 100-goal barrier this season.

He said: “It’s a healthy combination we’ve got.

“Robin van Persie has come to us at the right time, no doubt about that. He’s got us 11 goals so far.

“I don’t think it’s a problem relying on Robin.

“Last year, we lost on goal difference and I don’t ­expect us to lose on goal difference again.

“I think Robin may make that ­difference.

“The way young Javier Hernandez has started this season I’m certain he’ll get to 20 goals plus.

“He’s on six and he’s getting back to where he was a couple of years back.

“The summer’s rest has helped him enormously and he’s looking fresh and aggressive in his running.

“Wayne will get there too, he’ll get 20-plus goals I’m sure. We have had 15 scorers this year and it is definitely helping us at the moment.

“That season in 2000, when we were three goals short of 100 in the league and the last game was at Villa Park, we didn’t quite make it.

“It would be nice to think we could do that.

“But the satisfying thing for me is the goals around the team.

“Fifteen different scorers is quite healthy. It’s getting ridiculous now because Jonny Evans and Patrice Evra have scored two – they’ve doubled their career tally.

“But we will take them from anyone.

“As long as the strikers are scoring and we are winning, it doesn’t matter who gets the goals.”